Friday, November 29, 2013

Today is the day! The day that lots of us crazy people go out and stand in huge lines to buy stuff on the cheap. If you're one of the crazies, hope you get what you're after ;).

Have a great day!Ms. T

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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope you all have a fabulous holiday, filled with love, laughter, family and food.

Have a great day!Ms. T

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

My little Firecracker loves his popcorn. He gets so excited when you tell him he can have some. He will jump up and down, then run into the kitchen, fling open the pantry door and grab the box of popcorn. Mind you Firecracker does all of this while yelling, "POPCORN, YAY, POPCORN!"

He knows how to help put it in the microwave. Firecracker is so smart, but he's not quite tall enough to do it all by himself yet. After it's in the microwave, he goes around the house telling any one that will listen that he's about to have popcorn, just in case you didn't hear him yelling about it 45 seconds earlier. It's all quite the production.

You may be wondering, "if he's that excited about it before he gets it what does he do when he actually gets it?" Good question! Firecracker actually gets very still and quiet, only because he's intently eating his popcorn.

I get a kick out of Firecracker's immense love for popcorn. Sometimes I offer it to him just to see the fireworks that accompany it. =)

Hope your day is as good as popcorn! =)

Ms. T

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

You know how you tell your children the same thing over and over and over again until you feel like you might as well make a recording of yourself, because you say it so much? Well, my friends, I must say that it does eventually pay off!

The Hubs took Firecracker to the store with him the other day. Firecracker knows that 90% of the stores we go to have bakeries that offer free cookies to children. Trust me, he knows which one we're going into and whether or not he'll get the sweet treat while we're in there. Anyway, the store Hubs and Firecracker went into had one of those bakeries that hands out a free cookie to the kiddies.

Of course they went to the bakery and the Firecracker made his Mamma (and Daddy) proud! The cookie lady came over and Firecracker said, "please, cookie". She was stunned (apparently kids don't usually ask nicely especially unprompted) as was the Hubs. The cookie lady handed him the cookie and then Firecracker said, "thank". Oh My Lanta! Could it be that all the repetition is paying off? Could it be that Firecracker is actually absorbing some of those manners that we're trying so desperately to drill into teach him?

The end of the story is that the cookie lady was so impressed with Firecracker's manners that she gave him 2 cookies! Trust me he was thrilled with this. And Firecracker made his Mamma and Daddy so super proud. Gotta love the little glimmers of hope that shine through =).

Hope you have a great day!

Ms. T

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Thursday, November 21, 2013

I grew up in a very small church. Everybody knew everybody, and the most common way to greet each other was a warm welcome and a big hug. Therefore, I always hugged everyone. Even those that didn't go to my church. It was just how I greeted people.

Now days, things are very different for me. I have literally distanced myself from others. If I happen to see someone that used to go to church with me in that small church, I still hug them. It's still considered acceptable.

However, Now that I'm older I realize that not every one hugs to greet each other. I've turned into an awkward hugger. Sometimes there are instances where when I'm greeting some one I wonder if I should hug them. But while I'm debating about whether or not to go in for a hug the appropriate time period for greeting someone with a hug goes by. So then if I decide I should hug them it's all awkward.....

So if I go to hug you and it seems awkward, know you're not alone.

Have a great day!Ms. T

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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The other day I got new, beautiful shoes. I wore them for the first time on Sunday. As we were driving to church, I took a picture of my new shoes and texted it to Ms. L, and Ms. Pickles. Firecracker then asked me, "Mommy, why are you taking pictures of your shoes?"

I told Firecracker that I wanted to show Ms. L and Ms. Pickles my new shoes. At which point Sweet pea piped up and says, "Firecracker, Mommy's pretty shoes!! Show Auntie."

Even a 2 year old gets it. Shoes are kryptonite to girls ;)

Have a great day!Ms. T

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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A week or so ago my good friend, Ms. S, told me her daughters (15 and 13, amazing girls that I have known their whole lives) were trying to earn money for Christmas. I decided that because things had been so busy lately, we were going to have them come and help me deep clean the house.

The Hubs was totally cool with it. A few days before they were supposed to come I asked them if they'd like to babysit for the evening and make even more money. They were excited.

So, Saturday, I had help cleaning the house. Then about 4:00 the Hubs and I left for our date leaving the girls to tend to Sweet pea and Firecracker. It was awesome!

Sunday morning, Firecracker informed me that he liked having the girls babysit. He said they were fun! =) It's always good to know your kids like their baby sitters.

Have a great day!Ms. T

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Monday, November 18, 2013

It's that time of year again, time to start filling shoe boxes to send overseas to needy children. You maybe thinking, "Ms. T, there are still several days til Christmas. Why do we need to start now?" Because, my friends, the teams need time to organize the boxes, count them, put them in bigger boxes and then ship them.

We do this every year, and this year I am excited because Firecracker is old enough to participate. He will help me pick things out, fill the boxes and we'll talk about how we are being Jesus to some one we've never met. I'm psyched. He doesn't know it yet, but he'll love it too.

This is one of the highlights of our year. The Hubs and I love to be a blessing to a little one that might not get a Christmas otherwise. True, it's not like they get a huge Christmas present, but they get something. And from the videos I've seen they are as excited as they could possibly be.

Here is a video to show what I mean:

Heart breaking isn't it? It makes me want to bring all these children into my home and show them love. Since I can't do that I fill as many shoe boxes as possible.

Hope you all have a great day!Ms. T

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Thursday, November 14, 2013

My friend, Ms. L, has a humorous story for us about her son, The Boy. I just love this family!!! Take it away, Ms. L!

So, if there is one thing you must know about me as a momma, it is that I strive to have well behaved kids. We work on manners, politeness, obedience, emotion/anger control, etc. on a regular basis. My children think that the "S" word is the word stupid. The "F" word is the word fat. We do not talk about certain things in public. There are some things we don't even talk about in the privacy of our own home, unless our kids are asking a sincere question about them. After 7 years of working to ensure that my children don't embarrass me, I almost fell out of my chair when The Boy came home from school on Monday. As usual, I look through The Boy's bookbag as soon as we get home from school. I check our agenda, his teacher's comments on his behavior, our homework list, and any returned papers from school. I love looking at my son's work. Sometimes he just amazes me with the thought processes and creativity he puts into his school work. He is known as the funny kid in class, a title that we are very proud of. However, this time, I am certain he wasn't trying to be funny. He doesn't even know what these words mean, but somehow they ended up on the paper. The assignment was to write sentences using words the teacher gave them. She gave five words, and three of them were Today, Nut, and Black. Here are The Boy's sentences:1) Today is Mrs. Oates' Bra Day. Translated to read "Today is Mrs. Oates' Birthday."I mean, if my translation is wrong, I am glad that it was her Bra Day and not her Non-Bra Day. 2) The nuts is blue.Why, oh why, son, must you have made the nuts blue? Couldn't they have been any other color? We don't even refer to body parts using slang terms in our house, so I know that he is thinking of literal nuts, but why? Why must they be blue?3) This color is piss black.Translated by Mrs. Oates to read "This color is pitch black."Oh my goodness? We don't even use this word. He doesn't even know that this word exists, much less what it means. Oi-vey!So, three of our five sentences were sentences that made my face flush with embarrassment. I now have to try to redeem my parenting qualities to our teacher. I can't even imagine how she managed to read those sentences without falling out in the floor. I think it's incredibly funny, but only because I know how innocent it is. She may be of a different opinion. This is one paper that will be saved to torment him with when he is much much older and can understand the humor.Have a great day!Ms. L

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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

I have "heat waves" (AKA hot flashes). Especially at night. In order for me to get any sleep I have 2 large stand fans and the over head fan all on high every night. And I still can't have the covers on. In contrast, the poor Hubs sleeps under an electric blanket and a quilt in order to stay warm enough for him to sleep. I hope this mess gets better soon. The poor Hubs nearly freezes to death once he gets out from under the covers. Good grief!Have a great day!Ms. T

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Firecracker is like many children. When I make him a peanut butter sandwich he asks me to cut the crust off. Whatever, that's fine with me. However, I always put the crust on the side of the plate. And guess what? 90% of the time Firecracker will eat those too..... He's a nut! He doesn't want the crust on the bread, but he'll eat it if it's on the side. Whatever, he's growing, and healthy and that's all this Mama is gonna ask for.

Have a great day!Ms. T

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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Lately, there have been several occurrences in people's lives that we know that have the Hubs and I constantly asking, "who can we trust?" We consider our children to be our special gifts from God and we want to protect them from everything harmful.

Honestly, I knew this world was a screwed up place, but nothing has truly made me frightened of this as much as parenting has. In the last 2 months or so, the Hubs and I have had 2 different people tell us about sexual abuse that happened to them as a child. These were repeated offenses where the adult involved was considered a trusted figure.

When I hear something like that my mind goes through multiple questions: How?! How can an adult look at a little child and do something like that?! Why?! Those questions are important, but then these, more pertinent questions come to mind:How do I know who I can trust my babies with?How can I keep this kind of thing from happening to my child?

The Hubs and I talk to Firecracker CONSTANTLY about inappropriate touching from others and where it is or is not ok to touch people or be touched. We also explain that if ANYONE touches him he needs to tell us right away. We also tell Firecracker that if he tells us he will not ever get in trouble. Only the person that was naughty will get in trouble.

Despite these talks I still feel that my children are so susceptible. I pray over them daily that God will protect them. However, I hear things like these from people I KNOW and I want to shut myself, the Hubs and my kids up in the house and lock all the doors and never let anyone else near them.

Sorry to get all serious on you today, this was on my mind and you guys are such great listeners ;).

Have a great day!Ms. T

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Monday, November 4, 2013

Last night, my father, Papa, mentioned that because all politicians are such filthy liars there should be an elected position entitled, "politician slapper". The person elected into this position would be responsible for slapping the fool out of lying politicians.

Personally I think this is a great idea! And I'm writing my Daddy on the ballot for this position in the next election! =)

Have a great day!Ms. T

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Friday, November 1, 2013

Once upon a time, B.K. (before kids), I swore I would never drive a minivan. It was too cliche and they were too ugly blah, blah, blah.

You wanna guess what I drive now? Yep, a minivan! And you know what? I love it. Today, I'm driving the Hub's car, because the van is in the shop (a few little repairs). I miss my van! The Hub's car is nice, but it doesn't have doors that open at the touch of a button. It doesn't sit up tall so I don't have to bend way down to buckle Sweet pea into her car seat. Etc. At this point I think I'm spoiled with my van ;).

Just one more way my opinions have changed since I've had kids of my own.

Have a great day!Ms. T

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